Two cookies down and two more to go, plus the peppermint bark I haven't started yet. But really all I want to do is go to sleep. Which means that even though I feel like I should make a fifth type of cookie I won't. For whatever reason I didn't have my cookie baking mojo going this year (scratch that I didn't have any holiday mojo). I kept browsing through my various Martha Stewart Cookie special issues (2001 & 2006) seeing new cookies I wanted to try. But I mail most of these cookies to family, and they have opinions on what they like too, not to mention some of the fabulous looking cookies don't strike me as good choices to arrive via USPS.
To keep things interesting but stable I try to balance the favorites (Mexican Wedding Cakes aka Snowballs and Spritz) with new recipes. Right now one of those "new" recipes, Lemon Scented Ginger Almond Crisps, is in the oven. I've been wanting to try this recipe for several years now but kept finding myself short one ingredient; by sheer luck I had all of them on hand today. I also made Spiced Biscotti from The New Best Recipe, it struck me as very similar to a lost recipe of mine.
Also, taking a cue from a few blogs I read around thanksgiving I started a christmas cookie and candy spreadsheet to track what I bake, the actual yields (I got 58 cookies instead of the stated 36 with my Mexican Wedding Cake Cookies recipe) and a second worksheet that has an ingredient break-down to aid pre-holiday grocery shopping in future years. Hopefully this also means I won't loose another recipe if it becomes a recipient's favorite.
What's your favorite thing to drink when it's cold outside?
Hot chocolate with marshmallows
[spiced] Chai [lattes]
adult hot chocolate=hot chocolate + alcohol
Sometimes the Vox questions are good to prod me into posting again :)
This year I'm cooking my first thanksgiving for a crowd. Last year I cooked a thanksgiving meal for the two of us (complete with seemingly standard cornish game hems) since it was our first turkey day away from family. One time in high school I did most the actual work since my mom had hurt her back; but that time she sat in the kitchen giving directions the whole time. Luckily it is a pretty small crowd, at most we should have 8 people; and we are actually cooking at a friends house so I don't need to freak out about cleaning the house.
So far I'm over thinking the meal as is my habit (I first started thinking about the menu about a month ago), but I've only tested one recipe, The New Best Recipe's mashed potatoes, though I only used half the butter or half-n-half called for and at the last minute I switched to the cheddar-cheese mustard version while we plan on having the roasted garlic version on Thursday. I might manage to try The Best Light Recipe's roasted garlic mashed potatoes early this week but maybe not. And now that I've seen Girly Mae's Chipotle Pumpkin Pie recipe I wish I was planning on making pumpkin pie. Oh well, maybe for another holiday.
Our menu:
We picked up our turkey from the Farmer's Market yesterday (if we didn't have that turkey to pick up the pouring rain probably would have kept us away), then we went out and bought extra-large ziplocks to use as brining bags. This morning I put the turkey on a cookie sheet in the fridge to start defrosting and determined that I had a tub that would fit the turkey and fit in the fridge. The rest of the prep will occur as follows (I think anyway):white bean-rosemary dip with pita chips & raw veggies
Roasted Turkey (probably brined)
Cranberry-orange sauce
Canned cranberry sauce (there is always someone in the group who wants canned shaped "sauce")
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Cornbread stuffing with sausage, apples and maybe cranberries
Baked sweet potatoes (aka yams)
some sort of steamed green veggie
Green beans with dill & bacon
Honey-wheat rollsPumpkin bars
Apple pie (with a crumble topping)
Pumpkin pie
Monday: finalize grocery list, divide by preferred stores, make cornbread for stuffing
Tuesday: grocery shop, make pie crust & put in fridge, make cranberry-orange sauce
Wednesday: make brine, put turkey in brine, prep the stuffing and put in casserole dish for baking, make white bean dip and pita chips
Thursday morning: bake pie, prep turkey for baking, drive over to friends house, put turkey in oven, start mashed potatoes, let cranberry-orange sauce come to room temp, throw stuffing and sweet potatoes in the oven, steam green veggie, set up Thanksgiving buffet.
I can do this right? I mean I only have to make one of the pies; the mashed potatoes and veggies can be made while the turkey is in the oven, the stuffing only needs to be put in the oven the day of... Other people are bringing the pumpkin desserts, the rolls, the green bean dish, and the can-berry sauce. Keep your fingers crossed for me :)
I haven't been finishing many projects lately. Either they are awaiting that one final embellishment or I just stop working on them to pick up another project. I did finish my scarf for this fall about a week after I started knitting it, I just forgot to take pictures and post about it. Then it went missing in my own home; TheHusband found it for me hiding between the couch and the wall.
Last Sunday I took it out for a photoshoot (actually we were just heading to the park, I was wearing the scarf and grabbed the camera).
I'm really happy with the scarf, it is about 2 1/2 inches wide when the ribbing is relaxed, and I made the length long enough that it will wrap around my neck nicely but not so long that I can't let it hang open. And I keep getting compliments on it, which is really cool. Unfortunately this yarn has gotten a couple snags from the snag-free velcro on my favorite bag. In the end, I did use more than one skein of the yarn, but I had bought two skeins anyway, I just don't have enough leftover for a hat. (Reminder stats: Yarn-Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big, Pattern- Single Cable scarf from One Skein by Leigh Radford, don't remember the needles but that is personal preference anyway.)
On Saturday we found a variety of pumpkin prices at the farmer's market, I was very happy to find a vendor selling pumpkins 2 for $5. They were pretty big, but a bit picked over. We still managed to find two pumpkins we were happy with and last night we carved them!
Last week I decided I really wanted to make a cute Halloween bag and decided applique was the best method to accomplish it. This is my first applique project ever. I used a couple different methods for the applique. First I used this method for the pumpkin and pumpkin stem hand stitching them down and using the machine for additional detail, then I used a two-sided paper backed fusible interfacing for the eyes and mouth, followed up with a zig-zag around each face element to hold it in place and hopefully prevent fraying.
And I'm proud to say that all the primary supplies for this project was stuff I had at home. The striped fabric was literally scraps leftover from another project, as is the stem fabric, and the pumpkin, eyes and mouth fabric were bits of fat quarters I had. Unfortunately I did need to go buy some thread and two-sided fusible interfacing to complete the project. I just drew jack'o'lantern faces by hand until I had something that I liked both face and size-wise. I taped it to my window during a sunny day in lieu of a light-box to trace some of the pieces (eyes and mouth).
Friday night I stumbled upon a bread pudding recipe in my Moosewood Cookbook and suddenly felt like I must make bread pudding that night. I've only had bread pudding once or twice before and never felt it awed by it. But I started craving it, I actually blame reading about pumpkin bread pudding on Smitten Kitchen the other day - the Moosewood recipe just jarred that memory. I've also been craving chocolate lately but eating a plain chocolate bar had no appeal. I didn't really follow either recipe but threw this together and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I liked the slightly crunchy top the best, but the softer bottom pieces had much better flavor.
Saturday night was the first time since we bought this couch (in May 2006) that we've allowed the dog to be on the couch. What made it worse is that after TheHusband invited the dog on the couch TheHusband sat on the floor.
On Friday my friend Zarah posted this very cute picture of her dog Lucy and it reminded me of the dog bed I made last fall as well as Dog's preferred cushy pillow. (Random factoid, since Lucy is the first dachshund that I ever met all miniature dachshunds are now known in my house, or maybe just by me, as "lucy-dogs" or "long haired lucy-dogs").
Last fall I decided to sew a dog bed. It also seemed like a good project to try out freezer paper stenciling. I bought a couple yards of natural colored cotton canvas, a couple zippers, a roll of freezer paper, and a few bottles of cheap acrylic paint. I cut out the two primary pieces and did the stenciling on the top before I sewed them together. I made a special corner pleat (a link to that photo if you are interested). I also sewed an inner zipped pillow case to stuff with cedar chips so it would be easy to wash the dog bed cover. When it was finally finished my dog sniffed around it and laid on top because I asked him to. Then he moved before I could even grab the camera. I left that dog bed out, let it swallow up nearly eight square feet of floor space, for a few months waiting for the dog to use it. I even carted it downstairs during the day since he tends to sleep on the same floor that I am inhabiting.
I suspect his nose is offended by the cedar chips (my mom suggested them, her dogs apparently have less sensitive noses) because he never got closer to that dog bed than this:
However, Dog will always use a pillow when it is available (he adores dirty laundry, but those pictures, while cute, tend to show off my
What are your top five favorite cooking seasonings?
Submitted by skip.town.
Five? Only five? I just recently did a spice inventory and I have 68 different spices (including salts, blends and extracts). I would have had 71, but I threw 3 things out when I did the inventory.
1) garlic
2) pepper
3) fresh ginger (though I didn't count that in my spice inventory)
hmm I stall out after that. Cumin, cinnamon, basil, and salt come to mind. So does fresh flat-leaf parsley and fresh cilantro. Told you, I can't pick just five.
Ever since I started reading Martha Stewart Living (somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago) I've wanted a huge fabric covered bulletin board. In January Emira at Domicile reminded me of this when she posted about her fabric covered bulletin boards. In January or early February I bought about 1 1/2 yards of a pretty Freshcut print to cover the yet-to-be board.
Ta da:
